What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin (BTC) is the world’s first cryptocurrency. It is a peer-to-peer payment system that does not rely on any bank. You can use Bitcoin to send payments to anyone on the internet instantly.
History of Bitcoin
Bitcoin was developed at the peak of the global financial crisis in 2008 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It was launched officially in January 2009. The first Bitcoin transaction was worth 10 BTC that Satoshi Nakamoto sent to Hal Finney, a developer and early Bitcoin adopter.
At its launch, Bitcoin’s value was almost negligible. It was more than a year later, in July 2010, that its price shot from US$0.0008 to US$0.08 per BTC. In the last ten years, Bitcoin’s price has increased by thousands of times. In December 2020, Bitcoin hit its all-time high of US$27,000.
What is Bitcoin used for?
Bitcoin is used as a means of payment and a store of value. It provides a hassle-free, disintermediated payment system for everyone across the globe. Today, Bitcoin is accepted across a wide range of online and brick and mortar stores, travel websites, gaming platforms, and many other places.
Retail and institutional investors also very often use Bitcoin as an investment asset.
How does Bitcoin work?
The Bitcoin network is decentralized, meaning no central entity operates it. Instead, the network relies on thousands of blockchain nodes spread throughout the globe. These nodes store the transaction records, approve new transactions, add new blocks, and maintain the network’s integrity.
The network’s collective reliance on so many nodes distributed throughout the world makes the process decentralized and free of any manual errors or manipulation. The blockchain nodes are also often called Bitcoin miners.
Whenever users send new transactions to the Bitcoin network, the network creates a cryptographic puzzle whose solution can only be found by random guessing. The Bitcoin miners deploy high computing power devices to run thousands of probable solutions per second to find the right solution.
Once a miner solves the puzzle, they share the solution with the rest of the miners. If a majority of the miners approve the solution, the network executes the transaction and records it on the blockchain.
The network rewards freshly mined Bitcoins to the first miner who solves the cryptographic puzzle and adds the new block of transactions to the network.
Advantages of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a decentralized payment system, meaning it needs no intermediary to settle the payments. While an international amount made through the traditional banking system may take anywhere between three to seven days to settle, a Bitcoin payment settles in only 10 minutes. This is because Bitcoin is a borderless currency that functions in the same way throughout the world.
Besides, Bitcoin has laid the foundation for a completely new financial system free of corrupt centralized institutions and governments. It derives its value from the demand it creates among its users, and the activities of a government or a central bank have a minor impact on it. Bitcoin is based on a blockchain. It is decentralized and is exceptionally safe from hacks and thefts. It is almost impossible to manipulate Bitcoin transactions or tamper with its transaction records.
I bought my first Bitcoin in 2019, now it is up 300% percent.
Peter HWhat is Bitcoin halving?
The Bitcoin network rewards its miners with freshly mined Bitcoin (BTC) to approve new transactions and add new blocks. In the early days of Bitcoin, when the price of Bitcoin was almost negligible, the network rewarded its miners with 50 BTC.
Bitcoin halving is the process through which the Bitcoin network halves the mining rewards it offers to miners. The halving process is hardcoded into the network, and it occurs automatically after 210,000 new blocks are added to the Bitcoin blockchain. As one block takes approximately 10 minutes to mine, it takes almost four years to mine 210,000 new blocks. Therefore, it is often said that Bitcoin halving occurs every four years.
The last Bitcoin halving occurred on May 11, 2020, adjusting the mining reward from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC.
Is there a supply cap on Bitcoin?
There is only 21 million bitcoin that can be mined in total. Once bitcoin miners have mined all 21 million Bitcoin, the supply will be tapped out.
How do I buy Bitcoin in Canada (BTC to CAD)?
Buying Bitcoin (BTC) in Canada can be done through a cryptocurrency exchange such as NDAX, a peer-to-peer trade, or a Bitcoin ATM. However, using platforms such as NDAX will allow for affordable, safe, and fast transactions.
👉 How to buy Bitcoin in Canada?
| BTC | CAD |
|---|---|
| 0.001 BTC | 52.58978 CAD |
| 0.005 BTC | 262.9489 CAD |
| 0.01 BTC | 525.8978 CAD |
| 0.05 BTC | 2629.489 CAD |
| 0.1 BTC | 5258.978 CAD |
| 0.5 BTC | 26294.89 CAD |
| 1 BTC | 52589.78 CAD |
| 5 BTC | 262948.9 CAD |
| 10 BTC | 525897.8 CAD |
| 50 BTC | 2629489 CAD |
| CAD | BTC |
|---|---|
| 1 CAD | 0.00001901 BTC |
| 10 CAD | 0.00019015 BTC |
| 20 CAD | 0.0003803 BTC |
| 50 CAD | 0.00095075 BTC |
| 100 CAD | 0.00190151 BTC |
| 500 CAD | 0.00950755 BTC |
| 1000 CAD | 0.0190151 BTC |
| 5000 CAD | 0.0950755 BTC |
| 10000 CAD | 0.19015101 BTC |
| 50000 CAD | 0.95075507 BTC |
How do I store Bitcoin?
It is highly recommended that you always store Bitcoin (BTC) in a cryptocurrency hardware wallet. However, at NDAX we have all the security measures in place to allow you to safely store your cryptocurrency on our platform. See NDAX Security. For cold wallets, check out Ledger or Trezor for your hardware wallet needs.